Chapter 132

Section 1. The director of the division of forests and parks, in this chapter called the forester, in the department of environmental management, in this chapter called the department, shall promote the perpetuation, extension and proper management of the public and private fores…

Section 11. The chief superintendent may, subject to the approval of the commissioner, make rules and regulations governing all operations by cities and towns or persons for the purpose of suppressing gypsy and brown tail moths, tent caterpillars, cankerworms, oriental hag moths,…

Section 12. Whoever knowingly resists or obstructs the commissioner, any local superintendent or employee or authorized agent of any of them, while any of those persons is engaged in suppressing or eradicating the Asian longhorned beetle, oak wilt or any public nuisance described…

Section 12A. All persons in charge of land under the control of the commonwealth shall take measures on lands within their charge to suppress the public nuisances named in section eleven, and shall use such lawful means of suppression as the chief superintendent, with the approva…

Section 13. The city manager and the town manager in cities and towns having such a manager, otherwise the mayor in cities and the selectmen in towns, shall appoint for a term of three years a local superintendent of shade tree management and pest control, hereinafter called the …

Section 14. The financial liability, referred to in section eleven, of each city and town for the suppression of public nuisances named in section eleven shall be determined annually by the commissioner, who shall notify the city manager or town manager in cities and towns having…

Section 15. Each local superintendent shall render to the chief superintendent not later than the twenty-fifth day of each month a certified itemized statement of his expenditures during the preceding month, with vouchers showing separately the amounts expended on public lands an…

Section 16. Any city or town, which has a public shade tree inventory, not more than five years old, a public shade tree management plan approved by the state forester, and is in compliance with all requirements of law as well as any rules and regulations of the chief superintend…

Section 1A. The chief superintendent of the bureau of shade tree management and pest control shall act for the commonwealth in suppressing the pests declared in section eleven to be public nuisances, and in accordance with the provision of section thirteen of chapter twenty-one, …

Section 2. The commissioner of environmental management, in this chapter called the commissioner, with the approval of the governor and council, may accept on behalf of the commonwealth bequests or gifts to be used for the purpose of advancing the forestry interest of the commonw…

Section 25. The local superintendent in each city and town having charge of the suppression of the public nuisances referred to in section eleven shall have like jurisdiction over the suppression of all foliage-destroying pests within the limits of his city or town for which spec…

Section 26A. If the chief superintendent or the local superintendent or their employees or authorized agents shall find on public or private property elm trees or parts thereof infested or infected with or likely to become so infected or infested with the causal fungus of the Dut…

Section 26D. The county commissioners, subject to appropriation therefor, may grant to any city or town sums of money to aid in the suppression of the pests declared to be public nuisances in section eleven, and Dutch elm disease; provided, that no such payments shall be made unl…

Section 26E. Notice of positive diagnosis received by the chief superintendent or a local superintendent shall imply necessary condemnation of said elm tree and complete removal of the tree and destruction of the wood by burning or other method to render it harmless as a future s…

Section 26F. When notice of positive diagnosis is received by a local superintendent affecting elm trees or parts thereof on privately owned land within five hundred feet of public land, he shall so mark said trees or parts thereof with a sign, and shall give written notice in ha…

Section 26G. If an order issued under section twenty-six F is not complied with within the time prescribed or if the trees or parts thereof are not rendered harmless as a source of further infection or infestation by spraying or otherwise the local superintendent shall cause the …

Section 3. The forester shall from the money appropriated annually for the expenses of his office recompense the forest wardens for the time spent by them in making investigations under his direction, as required by section thirty-seven of this chapter and section twenty-five of …

Section 30. The commissioner, with the approval of the stewardship council may acquire for the commonwealth, by purchase or otherwise, and hold, or, with the approval of the governor and council, may take in fee by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, any woodland or land s…

Section 31. Lands acquired under section thirty or thirty-three shall be known as state forests, and shall be under the control and management of the forester. Lands acquired by purchase for experiment and illustration in forest management and for reforestation under the provisio…

Section 32. The forester, subject to the approval of the commissioner, may expend such sums as are annually appropriated for the necessary expenses incurred under section thirty-one.

Section 34. The commissioner may make rules and regulations relative to hunting and fishing or other uses of any such land, provided that such rules and regulations shall be consistent with all laws in relation to the protection of fish, birds and quadrupeds. Whoever violates any…

Section 34A. The commissioner, with the approval of the governor and council, and after a public hearing, may sell or exchange any land acquired by the commonwealth under section thirty or thirty-three, chapter three hundred and forty-four of the acts of nineteen hundred and twen…

Section 35. Towns may acquire by purchase, gift or bequest lands for the purpose of forestation and may reclaim and plant such lands. The said department may upon application in such form as the forester may prescribe furnish such towns with seedlings for the planting of their la…

Section 37. Every local forest warden, in addition to his duties prescribed by chapter forty-eight, shall investigate the values of forest lands, the character and extent of woodcutting operations, the prevalence of insect pests injurious to forest growths, and other matters affe…

Section 38. The commissioner may lay out, construct and maintain trails or paths through or over lands in state forests and in public reservations and trails or paths leading to important mountains and other objects and places of special interest and beauty and he may connect suc…

Section 38A. The department of environmental management shall construct and maintain trails for horseback riding, hiking, ski touring, snowmobiling and other uses on land within its control in accordance with a plan for each area which will minimize conflicting uses. The departme…

Section 39. The mayor, selectmen or road commissioners, or the board or officer having charge of the maintenance and care of highways, if so authorized by the city council or by the town, may agree in writing, on behalf of such city or town, to contribute money, labor or material…

Section 4. The commissioner shall make annual reports of the acts of the forester and of the acts of the chief superintendent, which latter report shall include a statement of all sums expended from the funds of the commonwealth for the suppression of pests declared in section el…

Section 40. It is hereby declared that the public welfare requires the rehabilitation, maintenance, and protection of forest lands for the purpose of conserving water, preventing floods and soil erosion, improving the conditions for wildlife and recreation, protecting and improvi…

Section 41. The governor shall appoint a state forestry committee, to consist of eight members representing, respectively: forest land owners; primary woodusing industries; licensed timber harvesters; consulting foresters; environmental organizations; water supply agencies; fishe…

Section 42. Every owner of land who proposes to cut forest products on land devoted to forest purposes, or to cause such products to be cut, except as provided in section forty-four, shall send in accordance with guidelines posted by the department written notice of his intention…

Section 43. Whoever, not being exempt from section forty-two and forty-three under the provisions of section forty-four, fails to give notice and a written plan, to said director or his agent as provided by said section forty-two, or whoever, either as land or stumpage owner or i…

Section 44. The provisions of sections forty-two and forty-three shall not apply to (1) cutting by an owner or tenant of any forest product for his own noncommercial use; (2) cutting or sale of such products by any owner to an amount not exceeding twenty-five thousand board feet …

Section 45. For the purpose of sections forty to forty-four, inclusive, said director may cooperate with the University of Massachusetts, the United States Forest Service, and any other appropriate public or private organization and may authorize their employees to perform the du…

Section 46. No person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of harvesting timber or other forest products for hire or profit shall cut such products on land devoted to forest purposes and for purposes not exempted by section forty-four without first obtaining a license to …

Section 47. As used in sections forty-seven to fifty, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''Forestry'', the science, the art and the practice of conserving and managing for human benefit the natural res…

Section 48. No person shall hold himself out as a forester and engage in the practice of forestry in the commonwealth unless he is licensed in accordance with section forty-nine. A person who violates the provisions of this section or who fraudulently obtains or attempts to obtai…

Section 49. The director of the division of forests and parks shall promulgate rules and regulations hereunder, and shall issue licenses to persons to engage in the practice of forestry in accordance with such rules and regulations. Said director may revoke or suspend such licens…

Section 50. There is hereby established a forester licensing committee, consisting of nine members, one of whom shall be the director of forests and parks, who shall act as chairman, one of whom shall be the chairman of the state forestry committee established in section forty-on…

Section 51. Mount Wachusett Community College may establish a Forest and Wood Products Institute and establish experimental sites for the purpose of achieving its mission. The institute shall be established for the purposes of (1) promoting the effective management of private and…

Section 6. The forester may demonstrate to owners of woodland, at a fee not to exceed the actual cost of the service, the proper methods of planting, weeding, selective cutting, pruning, thinning and other silvicultural practices for the establishment, improvement or regeneration…

Section 7. The forester, in the reforestation, maintenance and development of lands purchased under section thirty or thirty-three, shall, so far as practicable, obtain the labor necessary therefor under sections eighty-three and eighty-four of chapter one hundred and twenty-seve…

Section 8. The chief superintendent, district supervisors, district superintendents and other employees and authorized agents of the bureau of shade tree management and pest control may enter upon any land within the commonwealth, and any local superintendent appointed under sect…

Section 9. The forester may establish and maintain nurseries for the propagation of forest tree seedlings upon such lands of the commonwealth at any state institution as the superintendent or trustees thereof may set apart for this purpose and upon such other lands as may be acqu…